Snap's latest desktop app Lens Studio lets anyone from students to full-time developers create their own lenses for Snapchat and its users. The app lets users design any kind of augmented reality lenses, including static and animated objects, ones with interactive taps, and ones that show a "window into another world". Users can then share their completed designs with friends using a Snapcode that will unlock the lens for 24 hours. The app includes guides, templates, and 3D modelling software. Lens Studio also offers challenges -- like the current one accepting submissions for New Year's-themed lenses -- in which creators can win prizes like an iPad...
Update, 30 Nov: Snapchat has officially announced its redesign that will work to "separate social from media". The company also announced "a more sophisticated Best Friends algorithm" that will ostensibly order your friends list by whom you chat with most. Original article: Snapchat's app redesign, first announced by CEO Evan Spiegel earlier this week, will debut on 4 December according to a report by Business Insider's Alex Heath. Quoting sources "familiar with the matter", the publication claims that Snap employees were notified internally regarding the planned release date. Along with said date, details of the actual redesign of Snapchat's app have also been outed. On the...
After seeing its growth stunted by Facebook's similar products, Snapchat is pondering a number of changes to the app. In a Q3 2017 investors presentation, CEO Evan Spiegel announced a forthcoming "disruptive" change to the app that will reportedly make it simpler to use. "One thing that we have heard over the years is that Snapchat is difficult to understand or hard to use, and our team has been working on responding to this feedback. As a result, we are currently redesigning our application to make it easier to use," said Spiegel. "There is a strong likelihood that the redesign of our...
Judging by its latest batch of financial results, Snap is seemingly driven to outdo Twitter as one of the worst performing social media companies of the year. This week the owner of Snapchat published its Q2 2017 earnings report, and it missed a number of Wall Street estimates. Let's start with those all important user numbers. While Instagram earlier this year announced user numbers topping 700-million, with 250-million using Instagram Stories, Snapchat added just seven million users this quarter. That growth rate is down by 0.8% from 5% growth of the previous quarter. In terms of a global breakdown for Q2 2017, it...
Snapchat Spectacles are now available in a select number of European cities, seven months after the wearables launched in the United States. The company first hinted that a move across the Atlantic was an option, suggesting that the glasses would be sold at tourist spots across the US first. And judging by the initial offering of European cities, the company is sticking to that philosophy. Spectacles have landed in Europe! https://t.co/KdmMnzNkYW pic.twitter.com/JpWMU2fxWY — Spectacles (@Spectacles) June 2, 2017 Barcelona, Berlin, London, Paris and Venice are the chosen cities, all noted for their high tourist volumes. Snapbot at London Eye, UK 🇬🇧 A post shared...
Former Playboy model Danielle Mathers has been sentenced to 30 days of community service and three years of probation after posting a picture of an unaware 70-year-old woman showering to her Snapchat account, The New York Times reports. Mathers used the image taken at the gym to mock the woman, captioning it "If I can't unsee this, then you can't either." Shortly thereafter, she posted a selfie with her hand over her mouth. Mathers, who was Playmate of the Year in 2015, was met with a wave of criticism online, and many deemed her post as body shaming. Still wondering if @DaniMathers thinks she's...
Great news for you antisocial riders who never bother chatting to your Uber drivers. The transportation company has today announced a collaboration with Snapchat, which allows riders to "personalize their riding experience" using a number of custom filters. "Riders will be able to have a little extra fun by unlocking custom Snapchat filters so they can Snap while they ride," the press release continues. These custom filters include ETA filters, a number of custom Uber ride filters and a mystery filter for an "added surprise". 'Riders will be able to have a little extra fun by unlocking custom Snapchat filters so they can...
Social sharing platform Snapchat has today debuted a nifty group sharing mechanic to its Stories feature. "Today we’re announcing a new way to create custom Stories – about anything, with any of your friends, even for a specific location! It's perfect for a trip, a birthday party, or a new baby story just for the family," it writes on its blog. Heading to a gig with friends? Going to the big game on the weekend with chums? Or heading to your local canyon for some paddling with your besties? Snapchat now lets users create custom Stories to capture the moment with...
Snapchat has taken a large step in its war against Facebook's encroachment. The company's owner Snap Inc, has reportedly bought a patent that covers its geofilters system. This according to a TechCrunch screen grab of an internal company email, explaining the nature and valuation of the deal with internal staff. The patent was previously filed by Mobli in 2012, an Israeli company that attracted investment from the likes of Serena Williams, and was the initial brainchild of the geofilters system. Snapchat's sponsored geofilters is a key revenue stream for the service's owner, Snap Inc "In continuation with our email below," the mail reads,...
Snapchat is here to fight everyone who still thinks its platform is just for selfies and disappearing nudes. It's a cool, interesting way to communicate the world around you and it's just launched a new feature to prove it. Dubbed "World Lenses," the feature consists of 3D animations for the rear-facing camera to bring the extra to an ordinary world. Users using the rear camera need only tap on the screen once and the familiar menu of filters appears. As of writing, filters include a discoing mushroom, 3D phrases of the "meh," "YOLO," and "STFU" calibre, an emoji rainbow and rain cloud,...
If you were paying close attention Friday, you may have felt a slight shift in breeze from the direction of Silicon Valley. This wasn't the result of climate change -- it was the collective sigh of all Facebook employees who just got the Snapchat clone up and running, only for Snap to update its Stories game yet again. On Friday, Snap announced that it was rolling out a feature that took Our Story and made it more accessible. Before, the feature was once-off and strictly vetted, allowing users to add their snaps to Our Story in the hopes that moderators would...
When you live with a nineteen-year-old first year, you hear about things like Friendmojis. You hear complaints about the fact that their avatar can only hang out with one friend's animated character at a time. So you become aware of the popularity the app has with people who have multiple friends (a strange concept). It's unsurprising that an app that lets you create a Lizzie McGuire-esque animated version of yourself is popular with millenials. But Bitmoji's popularity is staggering. The Snapchat-owned app is only two and a half years old, and according to a new report by comScore, it's growing even faster in the US...
Snapchat's parent company Snap ended its debut on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday with shares at US$24.48 a pop. With the IPO price of US$17, people who bought shares yesterday saw a 44% premium -- a significant achievement considering most companies price their IPOs for an expected 20% increase. But this first day success does not necessarily mean the company is set for a happy ending. Many have been drawing comparisons between Snap's IPO and Twitter's. The latter finished its first day with a gain of 72.69%, but the following months proved rocky. Facebook, on the other hand, closed its IPO...
Most people know Snapchat as the social network for watching people you only slightly care about play around with filters you really don't care about. While that may be all some people see, young innovators are recognising it as a platform to tell stories. Because, heck, that's what the feature is called, right? The first ever Snapchat movie premiered in June last year. Sickhouse was sadistically conceived by Hannah Macpherson, who saw an opportunity to merge creation and distribution methods in one foul swoop. Pairing up with YouTuber Andrea Russett, Macpherson used the social media starlet's Snapchat account to slowly lure...
Snap Inc's IPO filing was made public overnight, revealing a variety of details surrounding Snapchat's operations. For one, we know that the firm hasn't made a profit in 2015 and 2016 (although it's quickly catching up), then there's the claim of 158 million daily active users. But what else do the documents tell us? Yes, Snapchat's prioritising iOS Many Android users have long held that Snapchat didn't pay enough attention to the Google platform -- something the company admitted in the filing. "The majority of our user engagement is on smartphones with iOS operating systems. As a result, although our products work with...
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